The Rise of the Dark Belle
by raptorstar1122
Summary: A tragedy leads Belle down the path of the dark side.


Star Wars: Rise of Darth Belle

Disclaimer: Star Wars and Disney's Beauty and the Beast are both surprisingly, and unfortunately, trademarks of Disney. I wrote this little fan-fiction while I didn't have tech support tickets to pass the time between lulls in my IT Job. This Fanfic is in development, no way it's finished yet. Constructive criticism will be welcomed and appreciated.

* * *

Chapter One: Destiny Changed

This was not happening. Gaston was gloating over his victory, as a sudden move sent the Beast hurdling down the chasm. Belle watched as the prince she knew, the beast he once was, fell down a chasm from the castle. Belle was filled with untold agony as the man she despised reveled in his victory. A man who stabbed the beast from behind like a coward and killed the only man, or beast, she ever loved and imprisoned her father in an asylum. She had watched the beast die even though she admitted her love for the beast, at the moment of his death.

"You are now mine… Belle." He proclaimed "Mine." Like she was property. Like she was his slave. Anger rose in her and bloomed like the rose in the jar.

"Never!" Belle pushed him away, filled with anger, rage, fury towards the Beast's fall off the castle. This only caused Gaston to become more forceful. "I have your father Belle. Locked up at the asylum… I have won… you are mine..."

Belle screamed at Gaston with untold rage. "NEVER!" She pushed him away, without even laying a finger on him, and he landed in some of the Beast's broken furniture, and to Belle's surprise, he was flung across the room in the west wing. Gaston recovered and stared at Belle with irrational horror, Lightning and rain flashing. "What! What are you!" In a bout of fear, Gaston stormed out off the west wing towards the castle's entrance and spoke to some of the villagers that followed him. "Seal the castle's gates, allow no one inside. Do not let her leave."

The villager mobsters responded. "Yes, Sir. Gaston."

Belle began to sob in the west wing. Her world was crumbling around her. She rushed forward and closed the door to beasts lair, wanting to be left alone in her endless grief and heartbreak. She grabbed the first thing and threw it against the wall. More things began to be thrown around the room, and the strange thing was, she did not throw them. Belle ran out to the west wing's balcony and screamed. "I will never be yours, Gaston. Never! I hate you! I hate you and that worthless village!"

While Gaston marched out of the castle, he just so happened to run into Maurice. "Well, old man, look at the lunatic that's escaped from the asylum." The hunter smiled at Maurice. "If she rejects me, then I guess she can watch as you rot in a hellhole for the rest of her life. Take this lunatic back to his cell, boys."

Belle could only watch as her father was dragged away by Gaston's thugs from a balcony on the castle.

* * *

Lumare exited the west wing, carrying out the breakfast that remained untouched. The strange thing that boggled every mind in the castle was that they had all turned back to normal, but at what cost. It was clear that Belle loved the beast with everything she was, but to loose him, it made the day the curse was broken bitter to everyone, even Mrs. Potts and Chip.

Belle had isolated herself in the west wing, just as the beast had before her, and she only allowed Lumare into her room. It seemed there was a new beast in the west wing of the Castle, one confused by the emerging power within her. One broken by such cruelty. One consumed by such enveloping darkness.

"Any change?" Cogsworth asked.

"No… we may have lost both the master and the mistress as well." Lumare concluded. "All she dose is look into the Beast's mirror. Trying to find some trace of him… But it no longer works. The enchantment on the mirror was linked…. To the rose."

"This is too horrible." Exclaimed Mrs. Potts. "I don't know if I can bear such heartbreak myself. I'd rather be a teapot again than to see Belle like this.

"What is worse is the look in her eyes. It is like all the love in it is slowly dying. I cannot bear to continue on while watching such an exceptional woman wilt, much like that rose. Now she is wilting. One pedal at a time just like the rose." Lumaire responded. "She pulls away when I comfort her. I would be a candlestick again if she could start smiling once more."

Mrs. Potts responded. "It will take many years for her to heal from this, and many pots of tea." Ms. Potts retrieved a pot of tea and proceeded up to the west wing. "My dear, are you there?

"Go away." Came the response.

Potts entered anyway. "I told you to go away." Potts spoke. "I now what you're going through. You don't think we've had less than interesting lives when we somehow ended up in the service of a beast? I am going to stay here until you look at me."

"Go AWAY!" Belle snapped at Potts.

"NO!" Potts responded. "And don't think I'm afraid of you, because I was never afraid of the master either. When you get to be my age, dear, nothing scares you anymore."

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Mrs. Potts." Belle stated. "I feel like a piece of me has died." Belle noted. "Gaston has my father, and has imprisoned me here. I don't know what is happening to me."

Mrs. Potts responded. "Everyone here, at the castle is loyal to you. We won't let that pig Gaston lay a finger on you. He can bring an army and we'll die before he takes you. Now, have some tea, and some food. The others are worried about you."

"Thank you, Mrs. Potts."

* * *

Chapter Two: Descent

Belle could only see the nightmares, Beast falling from the balcony again and again at night. Gaston laughing in victory. Her anger rose as she saw horrific images in her dreams, a village being burned, villager after villager being cut down by a red glowing sword by a woman in a french ball mask. The only distinguishing aspect of her being the red glowing eyes being visible through the mask's eye sockets. She watched as the woman cut down every one. "Please... Stop STOP."

Belle rose. "Stop!" She looked around her room. Nothing.

She rose from slumber and began to quietly dress herself into a black dress. She had everything she wanted in the castle, except happiness and love. For weeks, the same routine, and her heart became colder and colder. She began to feel things. Something in the castle drew her attention, and she began to search. Search endless halls of stone inside the castle Something that was hidden in the west wing, and she felt it the night that the Beast fell; something powerful. She began to search the rooms, in the west wing, that were boarded up by the beast long ago, and she didn't know why, until she came across a small room that seemed to descend into nowhere. She was frightened by the discovery. A curiosity overtook her. The one that drove her into the west wing to begin with.

"I have nothing to loose." She reassured herself as she stepped down into the abyss. Searching for what she felt… Anything, nothing, it did not matter to her now. The stairwell descended forever and ended in some kind of crypt that contained two sealed sarcophagus' possibly the beast's parents.

"The only certainty is death." Belle said to herself as her heart descended even further into the abyss of darkness. "It's better that I join them, I'm coming my love." Belle stated as she turned towards a table holding a small pyramid object. Searching for the means to take her own life. That was when a voice pierced the darkness. It was a raspy and aged voice that betrayed a hint of harshness.

'Indeed, death is a certainty, but it is not the only one.' The small pyramid glowed as elderly and broken voice filled the room. Belle stood in shock. "Who are you?" She gasped. "A damaged person, just like you, my dear. Once an emperor, but now a shadow." A hologram appeared from the pyramid. A decrepit old man stood in robes, his face appeared scared and deformed. "I am too a shattered and broken man, or what remains of him."

"What are you?" Belle asked in shock.

"A gatekeeper to great knowledge, my dear. Knowledge that was…. Preserved. Your power activated me. But if you prefer a name, I am Palpatine." The hologram stated.. "Great pain, anger, and hate I sense in you. And passion. It is all you have, isn't it my dear?"

Belle ahead some tears and responded. "Yes..."

"You have my sympathies, my dear. I realize that this is a painful time for you." Palpatine stated. "Please, my dear, tell me what has distraught you so much. If I could comfort your soul in any way, I would." He smiled, it was a smile like a wolf staring at prey.

"Thank you.. The others have been kind, but it helps to..."

Palpatine responded. "... bear your soul to someone who has reserved judgement. I know my dear. Might I ask what pains you?"

"A man I loved has died, a beast; but not one in his heart. Killed by a man who was not a beast, but was one inside." Belle stated.

"Such a painful tragedy, my dear. Know that this place will be a sancturary for your time of grief. Whatever comfort I can give is yours, young one. What is your name?"

"Belle."

Palpatine faked sympathy. "Such a lovely name, milady."

"How did you find yourself in this castle? Are you cursed as well?" Belle asked inquisitively.

"No, my dear. This device is used to store knowledge, and the holocron duplicates the personality of it's owner. My owner was a man of great knowledge." The gatekeeper noted. "I am Palpatine, and yet, I am something of a librarian of knowledge."

Belle smiled a bit. "I'm always interested in knowledge. What of?"

"My knowledge is that of the power my keeper once held, and of what you have now. The force." Palpatine noted. "I can teach you how to focus it, hone it, and make it serve you." Palpatine mentioned. "You are strong, Belle. Powerful. You deserve much more than a common life."

Belle nodded, she meet few people who understood her like that. "I must go, Mrs. Potts will be worried if she cannot find me."

"You better not keep her waiting then." Palpatine watched belle leave the crypt. When he was out of sight, he began to cackle. A new apprentice after so long.

* * *

Gaston opened the doors and marched in, several of his thugs held Maurice at musket point. "If any of you make a move toward me, the old man gets it."

"So, you take hostages now, Gaston?" Belle walked down the staircase. "Come Belle, lets leave this place, and I'll let your dear father go." Belle stared at him. "I would rather watch the Beast die again, than give myself to you.

Cogsworth drew a sword. "En guarde, you coward!" Gaston drew a knife to Maurice's neck. "Mm, mm, mmm. I don't think so, clockman. You wouldn't do anything to make me accidentally kill this poor man? Would you?!" Gaston paced. "It's clear to me that you need more incentive, Belle. Kidnapping your father was just not enough. He drew a flintlock pistol and began to aim it towards the castle staff. "Which one, which one? Oh I know." Gaston aimed the gun at Lumaire and fired. Cogsworth turned towards his friend. "Lumiare. Mon Aime..." He moved to his friends side. Belle dropped to her feet.

"I'll leave you to think it over... Belle... I know you'll make the right decision to save your friends." She sobbed and ran up the stairs towards the west wing.

"Know this Belle, if you keep refusing me, another will die. One after another." Belle entered the crypt in a flurry and shut the door behind her.

"Palpatine!" She screamed in emotional turmoil.

Palpatine appeared. "My dear, what has happened."

Belle sobbed. "A man I despise beyond everything has murdered one of my friends!" She cried heavily. "Show me this power you speak of... I cannot bear to watch this man kill more of my friends. He sees me as a slave. Please, I want your knowledge."

"Embrace your passions, they will give you clarity" Palpatine stated. "First... Tell me what you regard as your greatest strength, so I will know how best to undermine you; tell me of your greatest fear, so I will know which I must force you to face; tell me what you cherish most, so I will know what to take from you; and tell me what you crave, so that I might deny you. Tell me these things, and you will find strength... and power." Palpatine stated. "Do not fear your pain, embrace it.

"You say I have power, what do you mean?" Belle asked as she examined the hologram, wiping her eyes.

"I am not a ghost, girl. Your greatest strength... tell me!" His eyes flashed yellow with purpose. Bell was frightened nearly broken in sorrow, but fear only made her more curious. After all, she entered the castle to begin with and found a beast that really wasn't a beast.

Belle swallowed for a moment. "My greatest strength is love." Recoiling away from the pyramid.

"Love… it inevitably leads to suffering, my dear, but it also leads to passion, my dear. Embrace those passions… fuel them… or are you afraid? Tell me what you fear!" Palpatine asked.

Belle responded. "Loss…. Alone…" She could talk to this figure. He understood, but he was not being merciful or kind, just like the beast was once upon a time, she was used to it by now. She was used to being abused and reviled, and it was becoming as natural to her as breathing.

"We are all alone, sometime. Use your fear to overcome it, or die in its shadow. And the man who has forced this solitude upon you. Your thoughts betray you, my dear. I know what you crave deep down. Revenge for your lost love… It is most familiar to me. I will deny you this, as it is not time. You must prepare your revenge carefully or you will fail, as I have." The image stated. "Learn from me and my failures, Learn to use the dark side of the force, and you will have your revenge against all your enemies. But patience…. Patience… Patience." Palpatine stated. He could see into the young woman.

"What is it you cherish?"

Belle swallowed. "Knowledge, power. I wanted more than the provincial life they had planned for me, and they took it all from me, everything! Because I had surpassed them. They could not stand to see a woman as much more than an animal, a creature." Her voice resonated with anger and frustration. "I will not be Gaston's little wife, his slave."

"What is it that you crave then?"

"Revenge! I want them to all to die… die… DIE!" Belle stated through tears.

"Good…." Palpatine stated with a smile. "Feel what you are feeling right now, my dear. It will give you focus, make you stronger. Down here you will train in the dark side of the force. You will receive no food nor rest, nor any mercy from me." Palpatine smiled and cackled as a stone wall trapped Belle inside the crypt. "I have denied you everything, and you will now reclaim then. If you die, then another will come down here eventually, but if you survive my trials; a powerful sith, you will become… but first you must know the Dark Side" Palpatine looked on Belle. "Focus, yes. Feel your anger, let it flow. Take your nourishment from the Dark Side. Remember the moment he died. Do you feel it Belle."

Belle pounded on the stone. "Help me! Cogsworth!"

"They cannot hear you, Girl." Palpatine stated.

"Why do you trap me down here!? Why are you going to make me suffer?"

Palpatine spoke. "My dear, it is the only way to learn the dark side of the force. You must crave to live. Your anger will release you from this prison, or you will die. You wanted revenge? Are you ready to seize it? There is no mercy, as it is the way of the Sith. Will you survive, or should I destroy you now?"

"Yes!" Belle stated with a newly found anger in her voice. "And Gaston… I hate him."

"GOOD! Focus your rage on him." Palpatine replied, the figure cackled. "Inside this holocron, you will find a library, I sense you crave knowledge. Learn my lessons if you could pry them from me, but I assure you, dear Belle. The Dark Side is the pathway to many abilities some consider unnatural. Now… Crave this… Delve into these things and you may escape this place before you run out of air." Palpatine cackled gleefully.

Belle sat down before the holocron. "Teach me... everything you know. Now."

"Then close your eyes, and learn from me how to channel your anger." Palpatine responded.

* * *

Chapter Three: Journey of the Fallen Prince

It had been several days since he woke up without a memory. Without even knowing his name. He called himself Adam, and he took work where he could, as a hunter. While most hunted for sport, he hunted because he needed to, and he respected the natural world, but he didn't know why. He woke up near a river with tattered clothes and a scar on his shoulder. Memories seemed like flashes of her, dancing with him in vague dreams. Which he shook off.

The horse, which he discovered was named Fille, stuck with him as he tried to find his past. He walked through the deep woods, looking at the sunlight breaking through the trees, calming himself in the forest's splendor, until he began to see something. It was hazy, his vision. "What… What is this?" He asked in his deep voice. He saw a beast roaring in a castle, It began to advance onto a young woman in the castle. He heard his voice.

"Get OUT!" The voice roared

"No, I need to find my father." A woman's voice spoke. She was familiar somehow. The vision flowed and swirled on the precipice of consciousness.

"Belle." He heard his voice on the beast

The vision flashed and he saw the young woman, dressed in black, holding two glowing swords. "She is the beast now!" He heard a voice.

He dropped to the forest ground. "What? What is this?"

Another voice spoke to him in the forest. "Always in motion the future is." The voice seemed small, but spoke strangely. "This is the future? And who is she."

"Future, Past, Present… uncertain. Lost in darkness, and regret, she is. Lies and deceptions, feeds her ears.

"I know her… feel her." Adam responded to which he received a reply. "Broken your memory has become. Fix it I will, but face her now, you must not. Train, or she will destroy you. Yes, training I have for you" The voice stated and a figure approached Adam from behind. "Come… Come..." Adam turned to him. "What are you? Some imp? Demon?"

The small being laughed. "Imp? Demon?" He chuckled. "Fear me, not. A teacher, Master Yoda is, and needed here I am. Many places, the force touch. Many worlds that feel it." Yoda walked forward with his cane. "Much fear and anger I feel in you, and many questions. Patience, the Jedi Way is patience, for where the force would touch a world, evil can follow."

"What is…."

"No more questions! Focus on what you've learned." Yoda stated. "Come with me to my home. Good food, there is." Yoda began to walk. "Come… Come….."

Adam followed the mysterious creature in the forest. He seemed old, but pained, like he had live a hundred lifetimes.

* * *

Chapter Four: Embracing Dakrness

Belle continued to meditate, she was frustrated that this thing was keeping her trapped in this hidden chamber for almost a day. She was angry at this ghost; Palpatine, but she was learning his lessons. With the speed and ferocity that she could devour a book. The Holocron had many secrets that Palpatine learned. How to journey beyond worlds and even universes. And this force, she was powerful in it. This pain was power to her, she realized this now.

She kept seeing the beast fall in her dreams, and that drove her. Many secrets she read endlessly, but the air was becoming stale, and she needed to get out. This anger was seething in her as well, but Palpatine's cruelty was making her understand the power inside her more. Cruelty was needed for her to grow, she learned that from the beast.

"Good…." Palpatine stated. "Your mind is powerful, young Belle. Open this door and claim what is yours. You know what you want? Now seize it or die."

Belle stood up and turned towards the stone door. Reaching out, she began to lift it with the force. She raged and used it to fuel her power until the door began to budge and lift up. She forced Gaston's image to the front of her mind, using the anger to keep her focused. Wanting that revenge. Letting it consume her. Finally the door latched open, and the stone slid up. Latching in place as the crypt was opened. Fresh air entered the dark crypt. "Good…. Good..." Palpatine cackled as he laughed. "One more gift for you, young apprentice." The holocron opened and a hilt emerged. "A gift for a powerful Sith." Belle picked it up. It was a Lightsaber, she had studied the holocron's data on it. A red blade emerged as she studied the weapon. She knew what it was for, and that her enemies had to die.

She picked up the weapon and examined it, pressing the button on its hilt, a red blade emerged from it "A Weapon."

"You are nothing without the means to defend yourself. Use what you learn from my library and practice with it. Take what you need, and rend my knowledge from me." Palpatine encouraged her to no end. "You will teach me to use this hilt."

"You hunger for power. I will teach you to fight aggressively, girl. Draw your lightsaber and learn from my movements." The Gatekeeper began to show Belle the lightsaber forms he had knowledge of, including some she did not know. Her voracious curiosity turned minutes into hours as she studied the holocron's knowledge of how to use this weapon. Especially how to focus the force.

She went without food, this knowledge was all she needed, and Palpatine's lesson in the crypt was clear... She could not be weak in any way. She returned each day to learn more. The fear Gaston would return driving her to become stronger.

* * *

Bell watched the guards from the west wing balcony, holding the holocron in her hand. "I hate them." The holocron responded in Palpatine's voice. "Then kill them. They are inferior and beneath you."

"But isn't that murder?"

"Murder was when they killed your love. Remember, what Gaston did to you, remember how he threw beast from the west wing. You must seize it, or Gaston will eventually enslave you." Palpatine noted. "You cannot win unless you destroy all your enemies."

Bell swallowed. Her fears of being a slave to Gaston being pushed to the surface, the desperation of wanting more, the desire to be set free overriding reason."Yes… They must die."

"Good..." Palpatine said with glee and chuckled a bit. "Good… but there can be no hesitation. Use your new power to destroy all your enemies. Only then will you be strong enough to get your revenge on Gaston."

The Villagers that were standing guard watched the castle. "This castle still creeps me out." One of them stated as fog covered the castle. "Yeah, well. Gaston wants us guarding it, and we'll guard it."

"Your loyalty is admirable." Belle's voice emerged from the fog. Her voice seemed darker, more seductive. She walked out of it, dressed in black dress-like outfit. "You can still leave my Castle, and no harm will come to you. Begone." Belle stared at them and they began laughing. "Back inside your castle with your 'prince' Belle." One of the guards approached and a red blade lanced out and severed his hand. His scream was heard for miles. Belle approached, lightsaber drawn. "Yes! Kill him Belle!" A voice came from the holocron she carried. "Kill them all." Belle raised her lightsaber and cut one of the villagers down. The rest of them recoiled. "Belle… Merdi, please Belle."

"My love cried for mercy, and he was given none." Belle screamed. "You will receive the same mercy you showed him!" Villager after villager were cut down in the castle's courtyard. Without a single hint of mercy.

Belle left the castle. "Time to go see Father."

The guards at the gates of the asylum continued to drink various spirits as the boasted. "And get that old man, takes things apart and builds strange contraptions. That's if he's not on the medicine the doctors give him, other times he raves and rants about his imprisoned daughter in a castle." The taller guard responded. "You're listening to the lunacy in here. The warden might throw you into a cell if you listen to old Maurice long enough. Especially when they give him the shocks." The shorter guard responded. "But his daughter is quite the mademoiselle. No wonder Gaston has it in for her, I would like to meet her one day."

A hooded woman spoke while walking towards the Asylum's gates. "That can be arranged, Monsieur."

The woman emerged from the darkness and pulled her robe off. Dressed regally, but in dark blacks and greys, in a dress like outfit that flowed with her. She was beautiful, except for the glowing yellow in her eyes.

"You will take me to my father, or I will destroy you." Belle stated towards the guards.

The guards looked at each other near the shack and started laughing at Belle. "Mademoiselle, we must thank you for entertaining us so well, now if you would be on your way, we'll…." one of them grabbed his neck and started choking.

"I tire of this. You will take me to my father, or you will die!" Belle stated as she continued choking the taller guard. His neck snapped and he fell to the ground. Belle watched as the guard stared at his fallen comrade and then pointed a musket at her. A red blade emerged and cut the weapon in half.

"Mademoiselle, mercy." Belle glared at him. "My father screamed for mercy, no?" She blasted him with lighting. A cry of pain was heard as the guard withered on the ground. "You will take me to my father, or you will suffer more than you ever have in your entire life." The guard knew exactly who she was. He escorted the woman through the Asylum. The aura of darkness she exhibited caused the patients quite some alarm until they approached a door at the end of the hallway. "Here we are, let me find the." Belle held her hand out and the door was ripped off its hinges and it smashed into the guard killing him instantly.

Belle approached a bed with her father strapped to it. It seemed like a piece of who she once was returned for a moment. "Father…. I'm here… No one will ever harm us again." She unhooked the restraints. She could hear the haunting voice of madness. "I'm a little... TEAPOT short and STOUT. Here is my handle... HERE is my spout." Maurice chuckled maniacly, and Belle looked through the bars in the cell and her anger rose. "What did you DO to him!"

"We're helping him, Mademoiselle." The Asylum keeper walked down the hall with a grin. "I am so sorry for the condition of your father, but it was necessary to treat the... madness inside him. It is fascinating... really." The old man chuckled as Belle locked her eyes with him. "Poor old fool. He was rather bright, but hey... a deal is a deal." More guards flanked the Asylum keeper. "Put her in the next cell. She'll be a fascinating test..." Belle drew a lightsaber and approached the keeper and cut his head off without another word. The guards recoiled, horror on their faces. The sounds of lightning and lightsaber strikes could be heard throughout the asylum, and the screams of the guards and patients as Belle unleashed her rage on everyone there whether they did anything or not. All of them deserved her wrath. When her anger was sated, she returned to her father's cell and embraced Maurice as he lied in the bed.

"Belle?!" Her father whimpered. "It is you…." Belle held her father. "I know daddy, you have suffered… look inside and embrace it. You will find strength in your suffering, as I have. All this time, I have prepared, since that night. Soon… father, we shall have revenge on Gaston."

* * *

Chapter Five: Be our Guest

Belle led her father through the Castle. "Belle… What are you? Are you a plant? Are you a traveling gypsie." She responded. "I am your daughter, father… Is that enough?" She lead her father into the west wing where she approached a lavish throne, sitting down upon it with the holocron nearby. "Now father, It is time you and I talked. We must attend to certain things. For example, that fool; Gaston." She mentioned. "And that horrid little village. The same one that carted you off to that place." She reached over to the table that held a glass globe with a dried rose stalk and petals within. "Rest easy, my love… our revenge will come."

Maurice continued to shake. Frère Jacques, frère Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? Do you like my singing belle?"

Belle walked up to Maurice and held him. She levitated a bell and rang it. Ms. Potts came soon after. "Ms. Potts. Please take care of my father."

"Oh dear.." She was shocked to see Maurice like he was. "Yes my dear. I'll look after him, but what about you?"

Belle responded. "I have business to attend to in the village."

Belle walked down the stairs until she was intercepted by Cogsworth. "Madam, are you not going to comfort your father?" Belle stared at him. "I am going to go to the village and kill them all for what they did to me and my father. There will be no survivors."

Cogsworth responded. "No ma'am, you will not. The master did not fall in love with a murderer." Belle seized Cogsworth with the force. "You dare defy me! How many times did I tolerate their ignorance, their superstitious nonsense. There will be no mercy for that village." He gasped for breath. "There will be no mercy for betrayers too, consider that, the next time you question me." He dropped to the ground gasping for air. Belle couldn't kill him, or she would have proved him right.

As she walked through the castle, the holocron spoke. "You are weak! Pitiful!" Belle took the holocron out and Palpatine stared at her. "When the weak question your rule, they should be crushed."

Bell glared at the gatekeeper. "I will handle my own servants. When I need your advice, gatekeeper, I will ask for it. I will deal with ALL my enemies mercilessly."

"Your weakness is sickening. The weak should be dominated and the strong should rule." Palpatine grinned. "Yes, Belle, you know of what I speak. Your entire life, you have resisted the attempts by the fools in your village to dominate you. When I knew your destiny was for greater things. This weakness allowed your love to die. You must purge it by embracing the full power of the dark side, and you will be set free. Remember my teachings; peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory, and through victory, my chains are broken. The force will set me free."

Belle shed a tear, her mind was reliving every day she was belittled by the men of her village. "They will die. All of them. There will be no survivors."

"You must be ruthless, Belle. if a single one of that infantile village survives. They will know your power, and come to kill you, just like they did to your love. Every man, every woman, every child is now your enemy and must be utterly eliminated, or the next mob that appears at the foot of your castle... will be your undoing." The gatekeeper disappeared. He was right, she needed to strike first.

* * *

Chapter Six: Little Town, Full of Little People

A young woman walked in the snow towards the town from the castle. Her glowing eyes could be seen from a distance. She would not be denied or stopped. She felt a memory that amused her, a song she made up due to her amusement of how quaint this town was. A pack of wolves circled her. At one time, she'd feel fear, but now she just smiled and held out her hand, sending the wolves backwards with a force shockwave. The pack shook it off and scattered, but Belle had to admire them now. "But don't worry, you'll have meat in your jaws soon enough." She chuckled a bit as she sang a song she once was fond of.

"Little town, full of little people, every day, like the one before... Little town, full of little people... waking up to die..." She chuckled as she thought how she was going to kill all of them. Belle walked into the town without being seen by the guards and approached a certain tavern to start. Belle approached the pillory that had a fool in it that she sometimes felt pity for. Unlatching the pillory, the man stumbled out of it. "Thank you, Madmoiselle. I am.." Belle pulled out her lightsaber quickly and severed his head. "I need this crude thing, but don't feel bad. At least I set you free." She walked slowly towards the tavern and held out her hands towards the doorway. She reached forward with the force and pulled the door off its hinges with some unknown force. Instantly grabbing the attention of Le Fou and Gaston. She walked inside. "Belle?" Gaston gasped. "Seize her?"

Belle activated the lightsaber and cut down every man that tried to grab her. The rest of the clientelle recoiled in fear. "How dose it feel, Gaston. To be weak. To be foolish. All these trophies and nothing to show for it." She walked forward as Le Fou took cover behind Gaston. "And now I am strong enough to destroy you. I have learned power, and with it I will have victory and be set free!"

"Now Belle, I know you're… upset… but we can talk about this." Gaston groveled as he pushed Le Fou towards Belle. She seized LeFou with the force and flung him aside like he was nothing.

"That's the only thing you're good for, isn't it Gaston? Talking. Really, Gaston, you bore me whenever you talk on and on with your simple mind. How about you just die now and spare me the boredom of hearing you brag." Belle stepped forward. "But first, you are going to watch this poor pathetic village burn." Belle held her hand out and seized Gaston with the force. Force choking him as she levitated him and sent him flying outside into the village square. He was instantly pulled up again and thrown against several cottages and buildings, at Belle's leisure, before he was locked down in the town's pillory. The entire village was waken to the sounds of Gaston being humbled, as the villagers emerged from their homes and surrounded Belle.

Bell walked forward to Gaston, unhindered before unleashing a torrent of force lightning upon Gaston, he screamed as he suffered in the pillory. "Oh, I've waited for this for a long time too, Gaston." Bell laughed with sheer malice. "Is that all you can take. Is no one as strong as Gaston?" She unleashed again. "No one can spit like Gaston? No one can bite like Gaston?" She unleashed endless waves of suffering into his body." The villagers recoiled with such horror in viewing this scene. "And it appears no one will suffer like Gaston too." She laughed at her own humor, maniacally before unleashing another wave of torment into the man.

"She's a witch.. Stop her!" Le Fou screamed as he stumbled from the tavern his final words before being impaled by thrown Red Lightsaber. She held her hand out and the lightsaber flew back to her hand, She began to chuckle as she turned her attention on Le Fou. "Weak, pathetic thing. Be silent! I haven't had my fill from Gaston yet. Now, where was I? Oh yes..." She began unleashing more lightning into Gaston. His unfathomable screams waking up the rest of the village. "Yes... Writhe you unimaginative brute... Suffer in agony..." She unleashed more of her pent-up rage into the man. There always seemed to be more now.

Regret…. Horror

A lifetime of regret in Gaston's eyes as his suffering was breaking him down into nothing.

The villagers watched with equal amounts of horror.

The Mayor walked forward. "Belle, I demand you stop this at once. You never in your life was capable of this... This is barbarism... This..."

Belle walked forward with the red lightsaber and cut down the Mayor effortlessly. His ravings only amplified her rage. "These interruptions are intolerable, Time for all of you to die." One after another, she began to cut down the villagers. One after another. Screams and lightsaber sounds were heard. Several of them retrieved guns and muskets, all useless against her power, as a group of them were mowed down with a barrage of force lightning. Some tried to run, but Belle could sense them now, they didn't get far before they meet the wolves, who were attracted by the smell of blood. Each death filled Belle with a small consecutive amount of regret, but also satisfied her long seething frustration towards her being seen as a prize for Gaston. Every one of them was still a enemy to her, but still regret with everyone and frustration in equal quantities. Soon enough regret coalesced into a well of guilt and pity. She began to hate what she was now. There was no turning back, as the shame was beginning to fester in her. She did not want to show her face anymore. Near a store she found a black, decorated masquerade, the ones nobles wore for balls in Paris.

Belle picked it up and placed it over her face. This would be her identity now, people did not need to know how she was, only who she is, what she is. It salved her regret somewhat, the guilt became less as she had the mask on. Massacring the survivors of the village who scorned her during her entire life, viewed her as a thing, a commodity to be traded. The women were not spared too. They surrendered themselves, and it disgusted her to no end how they could sell themselves to men like Gaston. Belle stopped in a house full of children and looked at them coldly. A feeling came over her as she looked in their frightened eyes, but there was no mercy. They were a threat and they all had to die. They would only grow up to destroy her. She raised her lightsaber again to cut down the door, but in a flash of light, the children were gone. In their wake was a single rose. Not unlike the one left in the beast's castle. Only this one wasn't enchanted, but was in full bloom.

Belle wondered, there was something else at work here. What was it? Who was pitting their will against hers, and it made her even more angry just thinking about it. The rose was a message.

Belle returned to the pillory where Gaston was bound. She began laughing. "Oh Gaston, long have you coveted me, and long I have desired to kill you. The only dilemma I face now is how you will die. It must be filled with beautiful irony and poetry as a shakespearean play. Something to satisfy my artistic side. But do not expect you to understand such things. You are a brutish thug… no? Oh how the tables have turned on you now, 'mighty' Gaston." She chuckled. "Don't worry, you will not die right now. I haven't been amused yet. And killing these weak fools looses its appeal after a while."

"Please, Belle. Mercy. Please, you don't want to kill me. I beg you!" Gaston was now a complete blubbering coward. Belle wanted to strike him down immediately as it was so pathetic, but now she wanted irony in his death. It satisfied her poetic mind that immersed itself into the endless volumes of the Castle's library.

"There is no mercy, Gaston. You are weak and foolish." She unlocked the pillory without touching them and used her lightsaber to cut open a wound on Gaston that would bleed slowly. "Run, Gaston. Now you get to be prey, now you will be food for the true hunters of this forest. Ones that I could admire. You can appreciate the irony of the hunter becoming the hunted, no?" Gaston started running in horror. "I'd stay and watch, but I have so much to do and so little time." Gaston ran, screaming in fear.

"Now, what to do next? I have a castle, no?" Belle mentioned her voice was becoming more twisted, more seductive. "Yes… I will rule, and people will bow!" The holocron spoke from her pouch. "Queen?! You should be an Empress… of a galaxy. I will show you how…." Palpatine cackled… "Well done young Belle, your journey to the dark side is complete. Hense forward, I name you Darth… Ravenna..."

Darth Ravenna... a suitable name. Belle had studied the Sith and its history in Palpatine's library. She would be honored to restore the Sith Empire, with herself as its Empress. It was however the life and adventure she always craved in her life, or she once craved it... it lead her to the beast... This would be her destiny. This name was acceptable.

Darth Ravenna moved through the village, setting it ablaze with her power, until she found a very familiar house she once lived at. She focused her rage and began to bring the house crashing down. She had no use for reminders of her former life, but in reality, she didn't want the reminders of who she was. A part of her still felt shame, and wondered if she was lost to the dark side forever, a small part of her that began to struggle against the hate that was seething in her heart, and this small part was still dancing with the beast in her mind, it was not extinguished.. Belle still lived...

* * *

To Be Continued...


End file.
